Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Will the Prime Minister advise the House how the government's Snowy Mountains Scheme 2.0 will make renewables reliable and help stabilise Australia's electricity supply for households and businesses, including all those in Gilmore?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. The Snowy Mountains Scheme was one of the engineering marvels of the world.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gorton!

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was the work of the generation that fought the Second World War, came back home, brought thousands of workers from war-torn Europe, and bonded together in creating this most extraordinary work that supports irrigation and hydroelectricity. Now more than ever we need that vision, we need that leadership, and my government is providing the leadership to complete the Snowy Mountains scheme. Our plan, which we are supporting—the Snowy Mountains plan for expansion—will increase the capacity of the Snowy Mountains scheme by 50 per cent. The plan has been fully designed, complete—all the engineering work done—and it has sat there for nearly 30 years neglected. All that was missing was leadership and money, and my government has both, and we are committed to doing this, because we know that Australia needs reliable and affordable energy and we know how that has been put at risk by the reckless policies of the Labor Party.

Imagine the recklessness of the Labor government in South Australia—of course, fully supported by their federal counterparts. They invested in a massive amount of wind energy which on any given day can supply 100 per cent or more of the state's demand or, in a few hours, when the wind drops, nothing at all. South Australia was made hostage by its closure of base load power and its lack of any storage to a long extension cord to the Latrobe Valley—where, of course, another Labor Party proceeded to allow the closure of Hazelwood, which supplies 22 per cent of that state's electricity and its base load power. The sheer recklessness of the Labor Party in energy is extraordinary.

And then we see the crisis in gas. We have taken the lead there, brought in the gas producers on the east coast and got their commitment to make gas available to the domestic market. But there is no thanks for the Labor Party. This is what Labor did: closed down base load power and refused to invest in storage, leaving gas as the only backup source, but then banned exploration and development in Victoria so that gas prices went through the roof. It is as though the Labor Party sat down and decided deliberately how to wreck Australia's energy market. Well, whether they did it mindlessly or deliberately, they were well on the way to achieving it and we, again, are solving that problem as well.